Billy Stark has a droll sense of humour – just as well for him on the day that
he was handed what is known colloquially north of the border as a Nae Luck
award.

In this case it consisted of being asked, in the role of interim manager of Scotland, to announce a squad for next week’s friendly in Luxembourg on the same day that the Scots plunged to their worst place in the Fifa rankings for seven years.

The position of 70th in the table – which is the legacy of Craig Levein – the manager who was relieved of his duties on Monday – is not the lowest depth plumbed by Scotland, who were 88th in 2005, in the aftermath of Berti Vogts’ reign. However, it is telling evidence of the damage wrought by poor results under Levein.

Moreover, without Allan McGregor, Gary Caldwell and Scott Brown – all of whom had been excused duty – the squad announced on Monday was reduced in numbers and strength, although Stark was able to accentuate the positive in that regard.

“If either myself or Craig had asked them to come they would have done so, but we have to be sensible,” said Stark, who has been in charge of Scotland’s Under-21 side.

“Allan McGregor played with an injury for Besiktas and then rushed to get back and play superbly for Scotland but it’s a November friendly – there have been debates about this one and the one in August coming so soon at the start of the season.

“Players have played a lot of football by this time – Scott Brown comes into that category – and there has to be common sense. It’s not that every club gets what they want or every national team – there has to be a commonsense approach and a relationship.

“I’m satisfied with what we have. James Morrsion missed a West Brom game because of a training ground injury, but he was desperate to come.

“I would put all the players in that category – no one wanted to be left out. We spoke to Allan McGregor about this. He’s been No 1 goalie by a long way and Craig Gordon hasn’t been able to push him.

“That means Matt Gilks, David Marshall, Cammy Bell, Craig Samson and the ones underneath it – we have to have an idea of who can come in if Allan is injured again or suspended.

“Allan would have come at the drop of a hat, but it was sensible to leave him out on this occasion.”

In the unlikely event of a handsome Scottish victory next week, Stark acknowledged that he would inevitably find himself in the frame to succeed Levein.

“Aye, I would accept there is an element of truth in that but something that irks most managers is that, if you win a game, you are a great manager – if you lose a game, you are a poor manager,” he said.

“I’m hopeful, with the players we’ve got, that we can go and get a result. I’m certainly not arrogant or naive enough to think that it’s a case of going there, putting a team on the pitch and just getting the win.

“We played Luxembourg with the under-21s and they made life very difficult for us. We had to be patient and wait for the breakthrough.

“We’re certainly not a talentless squad, that’s for sure and losing key players at any time hurts us pretty badly. Darren Fletcher’s loss was a big, big negative for Craig.

“Looking at the Serbia and Macedonia games, the fact is that we maybe had all our eggs in one basket with two home games to start.

‘When that didn’t work out, it was all uphill from there. Certainly there are talented players there but we can’t deny that we haven’t got the results we wanted, that’s for sure.”

Gordon Strachan has said it would be "an honour" to be asked to become Scotland manager.

The former Celtic manager, 55, is strong favourite to take over from Craig Levein who was sacked by the Scottish Football Association on Monday following a poor start to the 2014 World Cup qualifying campaign in which Scotland have taken only two points from four games.

Former Celtic boss Strachan was asked about the Scotland job while working as a pundit on ITV's Champions League programme on Tuesday night.

He said: "It's quite simple really, it would be an honour to be asked to be the manager of your own national side, it's terrific.

"I could sit here and say 'yes, it would be great' or 'no, it's not for me' but it would also be arrogant of me to answer that if nobody has asked you and presume that someone will ask.

"Until you've been asked a question about a job, any job, then you really don't know how you'd go about it that's for sure. I wouldn't have the arrogance to think that someone is going to knock on my door."

Owen Coyle has admitted he would welcome an approach to discuss the possibility of taking over as Scotland manager.

Glasgow-born Coyle has been out of work since he was sacked as Bolton manager in October andand has been touted as a candidate to replace Levein.

"I'm always open to hearing what someone has to say. It's a great job, that's for sure," Coyle told BBC Radio Scotland.

"It's a fantastic job for whoever's lucky enough to be asked to lead Scotland."

Islam Feruz called up for Scotland U21s

Interim Scotland Under-21 coach Ricky Sbragia has named an 18-player squad for the challenge match against Portugal next week.

There are first call-ups for Celtic pair, Stuart Findlay and Marcus Fraser, as well as Rangers midfielder Lewis MacLeod and Hearts forward Callum Paterson.

Islam Feruz, who scored a hat-trick for Sbragia's Scotland Under-19s in last month's European under-19 Championship qualifier against Switzerland, has also been included.